Music Keyboard Suggestions

[Mathius]

Right fellas,

I want to get back into my music playing days, and want a decent quality keyboard... so Yahama and a decent ish price... £150 would be pushing it.

I do like learning all the classical shizz like Fur Elise and Cannon in D as well as some dance type upbeat stuff and well pretty much anything.

Few things it would need.
*61 Full sized keys
*Touch Responsive keys
*LCD Screen and Y.E.S (Yamaha Education Suite or some kind of tutor, For my 3 kids for when they learn, I can read sheet music....just! :lol: )

I want something decent that I can link up to my PC and record songs etc...

Looking around I can accross a few but the 2 that stand out are:
Casio CTK-3200AD
Yamaha PSR-E343

I want to avoid the Casio boards to be honest, the yamaha boards are more Rock/Dance type sounding.....

Any ideas or suggestions are more than welcome.

 

[SeekaX]

i suppose cherry mx reds are the preferred switches :lol:

 

[jamesriley94]

I honestly wouldn't touch a keyboard these days. They just feel so lifeless and actually boring to play.

You get no feel at all with keyboards.

Have you ever owned a proper piano? Or a weighted key digital piano?

Pretty much all of the weighted key digital pianos will have MIDI outputs if you really feel the need to record music, but they obviously do cost a fair bit more.

Having a nice feeling piano and learning from youtube or sheet music will improve your overall playing significantly more than any keyboard regardless of any built in software.

I know a fair few people who practise on keyboards at home and then sit at a proper piano and have no idea how to make a piece of music sound nice as they just haven't got the touch. It's hard to explain over text I guess.

What sort of standard are you by the way?

 

[Mathius]

i suppose cherry mx reds are the preferred switches :lol:

I was waiting for a sarcy comments with it not being in the serious discussion and all..... :lol:

Keyboard/Piano has always been a interest of mine since I was about 5 maybe 6 years old, and sorta came to an abrupt holt when I turned the Pub going age.
I'm not amazing by any standards but I do enjoy the relaxing enjoyment of playing.

Digital Pianos is also something I'd consider but having the option of all the additional sounds could make all the difference, hence why although not the same, a keyboard suggestion would 'need' to have the touch response

http://www.gak.co.uk/en/yamaha-np11/49454?gclid=CLXvpp-fmrwCFSEHwwodmUcAyg

something like this?

Mostly I learn by ear, and there is a few songs I want to learn,
* 2 beds and a coffee machine - Savage Garden
* Goodbye my Lover - James Blunt (soppy but very meaningful for me)
* Right Kind of Wrong - LeAnn Rhymes (again a meaningful one)
......and loads of Dance tracks and Classical shizz

 

[jamesriley94]

Heh, it just isn't the same as a having actual weighted keys. Keyboards just sound so jittery.

If you have a completely fixed budget of £150/200 then there's probably very little difference between any of the Yamahas in that sort of price range. However, I'd thoroughly recommend saving up for a proper unit.

I've got a Clavinova in my Uni room - bought it second hand since new they're close to a grand, but I only got it so I had something to play up there. Something like that would be so much easier to practise yourself and better for your kids to learn on.

Have a look on Gumtree/Ebay in your area for a digital piano with weighted keys. A lot of them still allow for different effects (albeit not as many as a keyboard but they aren't meant for that). You definitely won't regret getting one.

 

[Mathius]

yea I've been looking on gumtree, the only things is though I'm limited on space, ideally I wanted to place it on my PC desk worktop. Thinking about it now though, a kickass unit will be, lets say more elegant

Very tempting @ 225 all-be-it currently out of my budget currently

 

[jamesriley94]

Heh, I'm sure you'll find room somewhere.

Do you have a model number for that? Definitely an older model (of course it would be for that kind of money), but in any case it will be significantly nicer than any non-weighted key option.

You can get weighted key portable pianos, although they'll all be a fair bit newer and therefore more expensive.

Looking at that though, it should have the majority of the effects/instruments on it that you're wanting.

 

[Mathius]

all I can make out is that it is a CVP-8, and its at least 8 years old. was used by someone doing their exams and now not needed....

I'm in no hurry at the moment so have loads of time to look more for an updated one... there is also a Roland HP700 with 76 weighted keys.... but has seen some heavy use. £100

 

[jamesriley94]

Probably best to wait if you can.

Can you play Fur Elise and Canon in D then?
Bit of a step down from the originals of them to basic versions of the songs you mentioned in your second post!

 

[Mathius]

yea I learnt with my grandad when I was young and Cannon in D was one of the first pieces I learnt and you tend to hear it a lit in films..... Father of the Bride being one of them , fur elise is pretty simple until you get to the high notes .
I'm still yet to learn Bohemian Rhapsody, I so badly want to learn it.

 

[jamesriley94]

yea I learnt with my grandad when I was young and Cannon in D was one of the first pieces I learnt and you tend to hear it a lit in films..... Father of the Bride being one of them , fur elise is pretty simple until you get to the high notes .
I'm still yet to learn Bohemian Rhapsody, I so badly want to learn it.

Lol, this video springs to mind:




You should learn some Ragtime on piano when you get round to it. It's probably one of the most enjoyable genres to play once you get into it. Near impossible to play on a keyboard mind you!